It has been a while since I last posted anything on this wonderful forum, but that doesn't mean I haven't been keeping up with it and living vicariously through y'alls adventures. It was nice to read how our waters are doing during the seasons that I cannot fish.

Being away at school for a better part of the year always generates a voracious and irresistible appetite to wet a line & fling some fur from the moment my plane touches down on GA soil. After fidgeting around at home for a week with a severe case of bluelining withdrawals (diagnosis provided by Dr. Pepper), yesterday would finally be the day I could ease into an icy stream, analyze the myriad of flows, cast a line, and hopefully be rewarded with a beautiful, wild trout... maybe two. Like most bluelining trips, this one came at the expense of a few dozen curses, couple stubbed toes, sore muscles, and three flies MIA. With that being said, old fishing plans finally came to fruition and ChaChung and I headed up to the North GA mountains at 5:45am to hit the water at first light.

Gurgling, the stream invited us to hop in while ChaChung and I geared up. Anticipating the day ahead, many thoughts were racing through my mind, Hopper-dropper? Just dry? Wool Indicator and double nymph rig? The possibilities were endless, but we both ended up choosing just a dry as nothing is more satisfying than witnessing an explosive take in a fast run.

About a quarter mile in Chachung and I gave in to the urge and began fishing a nice plunge pool. Casting in, I reeled in my first trout of the day right next to a log which I suspected it was using for cover. He was a 3 inch silver bullet with around a second of hang time in the air before diving back into the depths with a mouth full of hackle. I was filled with excitement and joy as that violent take reminded me not only how much I enjoyed fishing for blueline trout, but also, how much I respected their tenacity as he wasn’t much bigger than the fly itself. Unfortunately I did not snap a picture of him, but I did get a picture of his big brother in the same pool. After this and casting a bit too close to that log, the current swept both of our flies directly under it and consequently our flies caught on one of its many branches. We freed our flies and headed off to the next promising set of runs and pools as the remaining fish in the pool were sure to have been spooked.

Here is the Big Brother of the 3-incher. Fooled by a size 12 Orange Stimulator.

As we hiked up the mountain, we heard an ever-growing cacophony of sound that heralded a large waterfall. Eager to hook into more fish, ChaChung took to the plunge pool and I took to the beautiful runs and pools below the falls. Initially, I had little luck as I was missing hook sets and spooking fish. However, I began to hook into a couple of more rainbows after I made it a point to be extra stealthy and waiting for a split second to set the hook after a strike. These rainbows were as wary as they were beautiful and here are a few of the ones I caught.

A Nice Wild Bow with Full Fins. I named him Mohawk.

The Smile says it all!

He Was Skinny but at Least He was Long

After hitting every run and pool up until the plunge pool, ChaChung and I scrambled above the Waterfalls a bit. Knowing that this may be prime Brookie territory, we prepared ourselves for battle against heavy rhodo thickets and potential snakes or bears. Fishing for about 30 minutes in this portion of the creek, Chachung finally caught a beautiful Brookie, confirming our theories that there were indeed specks here. It was not long after this that I too caught a nice brookie after letting my fly drift all the way to the end of its drift, and dangling it a little. I believe this method is part of a technique called dapping to those who reside in the mountains, and it is very successful.

Not my Best Speck but Always a Pleasure to Catch One.

Afterwards, the cool morning breeze gave way to the humid heat of midday and the trout were not biting. With Chachung and I both having Rainbows and Brooks under our belts, I suggested that we find some wild browns to complete a Georgia Trout Grand Slam. Chachung and I immediately hiked down back to the waterfall and hit a section of the creek that is fabled to have a few elusive brown trout. We had four more hours to fish and only needed one brown trout, how hard could it be... right? Well, the answer turned out to be very hard, yet very easy.

The section that we were fishing had almost everything that a brown trout could want, primarily, undercut banks and a great pool-run-pool ratio. There were nice rhodo tunnels for shade and cover as well as a good variety of insect life. Despite these things, the browns were either not cooperating or too smart for our antics. Being a primarily bow-and-arrow cast blueliner, I could only send my fly out to about 10 yards accurately, however, ChaChung could roll cast (provided the space) a good 15 yards accurately and this proved to be the source of his initial success and my initial failures. ChaChung was the first to complete his Grand Slam and he sure hit it out of the park! Scoping out an undercut/riffle-pool next to a tree, he effortlessly formed a perfect D loop and transferred the fly right in the middle of the run. After a foot or two of bobbing down the riffles drag free, a massive eruption consumed it leaving little doubt if a fish was on or not. "It's a brown!" ChaChung hurriedly exclaimed portraying his excitement laced with fear in a way only anglers understand as the prize jolting at the end of the line may disappear at any instant. Finally getting the Brown into the net, I rushed over to behold a beautiful Brown trout around 7 inches and vibrant to the tail.

ChaChung's Brown Trout, Definitely not a stocker!

At this point it was the bottom of the ninth, the bases were loaded, and I was up to bat. With only about an hour and a half left in our fishing trip, the pressure was on. Chachung already crushed his Grand Slam, now it was up to me to bring it home. Feeling motivated since I witnessed that there were indeed Browns residing in this section, I moved onward with renewed vigor. It took me another half hour and ChaChung bringing 2 more Browns to hand for me to realize what I was doing wrong. It was not me doing Bow and Arrow casts per say, it was that I needed to be stealthier in the manner that I approached the trout since my casting range was shorter. Once I figured this out, I crept up to an ideal pool and let loose with a max ranged B&A cast to the head of the run. 1... 2... and right on the third foot of the drift there was a streak of bronze engulfing the immediate area my fly had been, up and over, then a sizeable splash... A BROWN WAS ON! He sure was a fighter and tried to break me off by going into the undercut, but ChaChung got him in the net before he could pull off any more stunts. I marveled at the buttery brown complexion and sprinkled crimson spots, it was indeed the perfect fish to complete my first Grand Slam.

Here He is!

From that point forward, ChaChung and I absolutely crushed them up until we had to leave. It may have been due to confidence, luck, and skill, but I believe it was a combination of all three factors. Having completed my first Grand slam, all I can say is that it was the single best day of fishing I've had since I began bluelining. Not only were the trout awesome, but the scenery and company was as well.

Another one

This Guy put up a Fight

The Biggest and Last One of the Day... Always catch "One More"

Thank you guys for reading this lengthy post and I hope it didn't bore y'all too much. I would like to also include that all of these photos were taken by ChaChung as my phone took a dip in the Hooch, but I was able to open it up and fix it, just waiting on the new battery to ship . Overall, I am glad to be back and I hope to share some more successful adventures with you soon! It is crazy to think 2 Summers ago I first began clumsily casting flies at bream in my backyard and now I am flicking them to native Brooks, wild Rainbows, and wild Browns. It is due to those who helped me on NGTO to become the angler I am today, and I am very grateful.

Thanks ChaChung! Haha I'm not an amazing writer but I love to write! Yes Bluelining will always be my favorite type of fly fishing.

Thank you for your kind words Splatek! I didn't intentionally write it in that format but it just flowed out that way when I began writing. I am glad you liked it and I also enjoy reading your many reports as well.

Pretty awesome fish report. But I am bummed that not one picture shows the face of the watch you are wearing. What kind of watch is that? (I am a watch guy!).

Hey Buck!

It is a watch of sentimental value actually, my best friend gave it to me before I went over to USC and he passed that Fall. I only brought it out bc I needed a way to keep time while my phone is out of commission, but here is the link!